The UAE-based Trimex Group today said it will invest 500 million dollars to establish a titanium pigment plant with a production capacity of 44,000 tonnes per annum, in India by 2014. ''Over the next three years, we will infuse 480-500 million dollars to set up a titanium pigment plant at Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh,'' Trimex Sands, a subsidiary of the Group, Executive Director and CEO Pradeep Koneru told reporters here. The project will be funded by the internal accruals, he added.

Mr Koneru said the production capacity of the plant would be 44,000 tonnes per annum.

He said the Group has applied for the environment clearance which is awaited.

Currently, India consumes about 1,50,000 tonnes of titanium pigment per year, Mr Koneru said, adding that only 50,000 tonnes of titanium are produced domestically.

Trimex Sands has also signed an MoU with the Indonesian government to set up a 850 million dollar titanium pigment plant in Indonesia by 2020. It will have a production capacity of 46,000 tonnes per annum.